This paper analyzes how agency problems in nancial contracting determine risk-taking andinvestment. In perfect capital markets a risk-neutral rm would invest until the expectedmarginal return equals the interest rate. However, as rms with little net-worth face agencycost in nancial contracting...

In monetary economics it is argued that due to agency cost in financial contracting a reduction of a firm's net worth will transmit into a decline of investment. This paper shows that the microeconomic foundation of this 'balance-sheet-channel' is dubious. Contrary to a common claim agency...

This paper investigates whether the inherent non-stationarity of macroeconomic time series is entirely due to a random walk or also to non-linear components. Applying the numerical tools of the analysis of dynamical systems to long time series for the US, we reject the hypothesis that these...

It is widely acknowledged that the recent generation of DSGE models failed to incorporate many of the liquidity and financial accelerator mechanisms revealed in the global financial crisis that began in 2007. This paper complements the papers presented at the 2009 BIS annual conference focused...

This paper is motivated by the lack of any obvious relationship betweenaggregate poverty and unemployment in Great Britain. We derive aframework based on individuals’ risks of unemployment and poverty,and how these vary over the economic cycle. Analysing the BritishHousehold Panel Survey for...

In a financial system where balance sheets are continuously marked to market, asset price changes show up immediately in changes in net worth, and elicit responses from financial intermediaries, who adjust the size of their balance sheets. We document evidence that marked to market leverage is...

We investigate the information content of aggregate stock market liquidity and askwhether it may be a useful realtime indicator, both for nancial stress, and real economicactivity in Norway. We describe the development in a set of liquidity proxies at the OsloStock Exchange (OSE) for the period...

We document a strong relation between stock market liquidity and the businesscycle. Stock market liquidity worsens when the economy is slowing down, and thiseffect is most pronounced for small firms. Using data for both the US and Norway,we show that stock market liquidity predicts the current...

This paper examines the roles of specialized versus general skills in explaining variation in thereturns to an agriculture degree across majors inside and outside the agricultural industry. Thefocus on returns by sector of employment is motivated by the finding that most agriculturalmajors are...

Subject of the present study is the agent-based computer simulation ofAgent Island. Agent Island is a macroeconomic model, which belongs to thefield of monetary theory. Agent-based modeling is an innovative tool thatmade much progress in other scientific fields like medicine or logistics.In...